By Olaf Goldbecker – In a split matchday due to the Champions League semifinals of Potsdam and Frankfurt, the top four teams left little doubt about them staying contenders. Potsdam had won their game against Jena last weekend, and Frankfurt defeated Leverkusen during the week already. The action of this weekend:
FCR 2001 Duisburg v SG Essen-Schönebeck 4:0 (2:0)
Derby time in Duisburg and the favorites left little doubt who would keep the three points. Mandy Islacker after five and Gülhiye Cengiz after 30 minutes gave a secure halftime lead for Duisburg. Simone Laudehr added a pair in the final 20 minutes.
Hamburger SV v SC Freiburg 1:1 (1:1)
Marina Makanza scored the lead for Freiburg, which was tied by Maja Schubert right before the break. Hamburg had a big chance to seal staying in the league but Aferdita Kameraj failed with a penalty kick in the second half.
Lokomotive Leipzig v VfL Wolfsburg 2:9 (1:5)
When Karoline Aulrich scored the lead for Leipzig in the first minute they could not expect this game to end in a disaster. Yet after a quarter hour, the picture had changed completely and Wolfsburg was already up 4-1 (Conny Pohlers 2, Lena Goessling, Zsanett Jakabfi). An own goal short before the half time whistle cared for the halftime score. Between minutes 57 and 74, all other goals happened. Pohlers added another two, Jakabfi, and Martina Müller scored for Wolfsburg, Marie-Luise Herrmann for Leipzig.
Bayern München v SC Bad Neuenahr 0:0
Less work to do for the stadium announcer in Munich. One week after Munich’s cup semifinal triumph, the reality landed in a scoreless draw against Bad Neuenahr.
Situation: Five games left to be played. Potsdam leads with 41 points, Wolfsburg trails by one, Duisburg by another one. Frankfurt with 37 requires Potsdam to slip twice in order to have a chance at the title. The competition best of the rest is led by Freiburg at 23 points, followed by Munich (21), Essen (20), Bad Neuenahr (19), and Hamburg (18). For Jena (15), it is still looking good, while Leipzig (9) and Leverkusen (8) need wins desperately.
Next weekend Potsdam and Frankfurt sit out again. Their games were moved to April 25 (Munich v Frankfurt) and May 2 (Bad Neuenahr v Potsdam). This opens the chance for Wolfsburg (v Hamburg) and Duisburg (v Jena) to move to the top spot. The bottom teams in need of points have solvable tasks when Leverkusen travels to Freiburg and Leipzig plays in Essen.